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Press Release 18/12/2015

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. NOVEMBER 2015

Visitors to hotel establishments in the Basque Country increased by 5.4% in November 2015

The number of overnight stays also registered an increase of 6.8% compared to the same month of the previous year

There were 185,845 visitors registered in the hotel establishments of the Basque Country in November 2015, 9,496 up on the same month of the previous year, which is an increase of 5.4%, according to Eustat data. The number of visitors increased by 9.8% in Gipuzkoa and 7.7% in Bizkaia, but fell by 10.3% in Álava.

Furthermore, overnight stays registered in hotel establishments of the Basque Country in November 2015 reached 342,961, which was an increase of 6.8% on those registered in November of the previous year, that is, there were 21,962 more overnight stays. There was also a positive year-on-year change in overnight stays in Gipuzkoa, where they rose by 9.9% and in Bizkaia, where they were up by 9.1%, but in Álava they were down by 7.0%.

Table 1.- Overnight stays, visitor numbers, average stay and bed occupancy rates in hotel establishments in the Basque Country. November 2015
Source: Eustat. Survey on tourist establishments

The number of visitors from within Spain rose by 6.8% in the Basque Country compared to November of the previous year, whilst the number of visitors from abroad increased by 1.9%. Álava registered a 13.3% decrease in visitors from Spain, and a 4.5% increase in foreign visitors. In Bizkaia the number of Spanish visitors was up by 11.1%, whereas the number of visitors from abroad practically repeated the figures posted in November 2014 (0.0%). In Gipuzkoa there was an increase in Spanish visitor numbers of 12.5%, and the number of foreign visitors rose by 3.5%.

The average length of stay in November was 1.85 days compared with the average stay of 1.82 days registered in November 2014. In Álava, with an average length of stay of 1.74 days in November, a positive variation was registered with respect to November 2014, when the average length of stay was 1.68 days; in Bizkaia the average length of stay this November was 1.88 days, while in November 2014 it was 1.86 days; in contrast, in Gipuzkoa it remains unchanged at 1.84 days both in November last year and in November this year.

There was an increase of 2.1 percentage points in the bed occupancy rate for the Basque Country overall, where it went from 39.0% in November 2014 to 41.0% in November this year. Álava experienced a drop of 2.5 percentage points, down from 37.5% to 35%. Bizkaia saw an increase of 2.3 percentage points, going from a bed occupancy rate of 39.8% in November 2014 to a rate of 42.0% this November. In Gipuzkoa the occupancy rate increased by 3.7 percentage points, going from 38.7% in November 2014 to 42.4% in November 2015.

The occupancy rate per room also registered an upward trend, with a 2.9 percentage point increase for the Basque Country overall, where the occupancy rate per room stood at 53.1%. In Álava it was down by 2 percentage points, standing at 45.7%; in Bizkaia it increased by 3.4 percentage points to reach 56.4%, whereas in Gipuzkoa it rose by 4.3 percentage points, standing at 52% occupancy per room.

The highest hotel bed occupancy rate in November this year was in San Sebastián (48.8%), followed by Bilbao (48.5%) and Rioja Alavesa (42.6%).

Taking into account the day of the week, at weekends there was a higher occupancy in the Basque Country as a whole in November 2015, with 55.9% of places occupied, whilst the registered occupancy stood at 35.6% on weekdays.

In rural accommodation, visitor numbers increased by 11.3% and overnight stays by 9.6%

There were 7,823 visitors to rural tourism establishments in the Basque Country in November, 11.3% more than the same month of the previous year. By province, in Álava the number of visitors increased by 19.5%, in Bizkaia there was an increase of 9.8%, and in Gipuzkoa there was an increase of 8.8%. There was a 28.4% decrease in the number of visitors originating from abroad with regards to those received a year ago, representing 6.4% of the total number of visitors. For its part, the number of visitors from within Spain rose by 15.8%.

Rural tourism establishments and country cottages in the Basque Country recorded a total of 17,245 overnight stays in November, with an increase of 9.6% with respect to the same month of the previous year. At provincial level, they were up 23.6% in Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia saw an increase of 1.3%, while in Álava there was a decrease of 7.5%.

The bed occupancy rate stood at 14.6% with a rise of 1 percentage point from the figures obtained in November 2014. Álava recorded a drop of 1.7 percentage points, with a bed occupancy rate of 13.2%. In Bizkaia the occupancy rate stood at 13.9%, which meant an increase of 0.1 percentage points in relation to November 2014, and Gipuzkoa recorded an increase of 2.7 percentage points, with an occupancy rate this November of 15.7%. Finally, the average length of stay per visitor decreased with respect to November 2014, going from 2.24 days a year ago to 2.20 this last month of November.

Table 2.- Overnight stays, visitor numbers, average stay and occupancy rates in rural accommodation establishments in the Basque Country. November 2015
Source: Eustat. Survey on tourist establishments